Pyramid of QANTA

Packet databases and other quizbowl sites, apps, or software should be discussed here.
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ezubaric
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Pyramid of QANTA

Post by ezubaric »

We’ve been working on building computers that can answer quiz bowl questions well. We’ve had some success with that. You might think that computers are pretty smart, right?

You’d be wrong. Quiz bowl questions are supposed to be written pyramidally: harder clues at the start, easier clues at the end. The problem is that we don't write questions pyramidally for computers: they write questions for humans. If humans could write questions pyramidally for computers, computers would be in a whole heap of trouble, and computers would look pretty dumb. Our goal is to offer a true test for how smart computers are.

We’ve hooked up a web-based tool so that you can see how well a computer-based system can answer quiz bowl questions. As a result, you can now write questions that are pyramidal for both humans and computers (we also think that it will help you write better questions for humans by avoiding stock clues and the like).

The goal is to have questions that would not be out of place at ACF Fall, HSNCT, or PACE NSC … the ideal question is one on a canonical answer line, that a human would enjoy, is appropriately pyramidal, but that also is challenging for a computer. After two months, we’ll see if the state of the art has actually improved by playing a game between a human team and an improved QB playing system (to avoid conflicts of interest, we won't use our system; the system will actually be the world's best QB system) at PACE NSC 2018.

To encourage people to write questions, we’ll offer the following incentives:
  • $10 for the question of the week: the best question written each week (as judged by us), we’ll make this public each week
  • $10 for every question used in the match at the PACE NSC expo game
  • $300 for the first place question writer (most questions equal in quality to the questions that won question of the week or used in expo game)
  • $200 for second place question writer (same as above)
  • $100 for third place question writer
Video explaining things in a little more detail (including example of how to use the system):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DENelwdcqhk

The site itself:
http://write.qanta.org

Edit: increasing prize amounts
Last edited by ezubaric on Sun May 06, 2018 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jordan Boyd-Graber
UMD (College Park, MD), Faculty Advisor 2018-present
UC Boulder, Founder / Faculty Advisor 2014-2017
UMD (College Park, MD), Faculty Advisor 2010-2014
Princeton, Player 2004-2009
Caltech (Pasadena, CA), Player / President 2000-2004
Ark Math & Science (Hot Springs, AR), Player 1998-2000
Monticello High School, Player 1997-1998

Human-Computer Question Answering:
http://qanta.org/
User avatar
ezubaric
Rikku
Posts: 369
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 8:02 pm
Location: College Park, MD
Contact:

Re: Pyramid of QANTA

Post by ezubaric »

We've moved this thread into a more appropriate board:

http://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewto ... 65#p345265
Jordan Boyd-Graber
UMD (College Park, MD), Faculty Advisor 2018-present
UC Boulder, Founder / Faculty Advisor 2014-2017
UMD (College Park, MD), Faculty Advisor 2010-2014
Princeton, Player 2004-2009
Caltech (Pasadena, CA), Player / President 2000-2004
Ark Math & Science (Hot Springs, AR), Player 1998-2000
Monticello High School, Player 1997-1998

Human-Computer Question Answering:
http://qanta.org/
User avatar
ezubaric
Rikku
Posts: 369
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 8:02 pm
Location: College Park, MD
Contact:

Re: Pyramid of QANTA

Post by ezubaric »

We're looking for human players at PACE NSC:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... sp=sf_link

Fill out the form if you'd like to play!
Jordan Boyd-Graber
UMD (College Park, MD), Faculty Advisor 2018-present
UC Boulder, Founder / Faculty Advisor 2014-2017
UMD (College Park, MD), Faculty Advisor 2010-2014
Princeton, Player 2004-2009
Caltech (Pasadena, CA), Player / President 2000-2004
Ark Math & Science (Hot Springs, AR), Player 1998-2000
Monticello High School, Player 1997-1998

Human-Computer Question Answering:
http://qanta.org/
User avatar
ezubaric
Rikku
Posts: 369
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 8:02 pm
Location: College Park, MD
Contact:

Re: Pyramid of QANTA

Post by ezubaric »

You can view the video of our past event here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf5GHwDb6Ig

And take part in the next iteration here:

http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic. ... 31#p349431
Jordan Boyd-Graber
UMD (College Park, MD), Faculty Advisor 2018-present
UC Boulder, Founder / Faculty Advisor 2014-2017
UMD (College Park, MD), Faculty Advisor 2010-2014
Princeton, Player 2004-2009
Caltech (Pasadena, CA), Player / President 2000-2004
Ark Math & Science (Hot Springs, AR), Player 1998-2000
Monticello High School, Player 1997-1998

Human-Computer Question Answering:
http://qanta.org/
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